Funafuti International Airport and the Tuvalu government have resolved a dispute with landowners over lease payments for the land on which the airport is located, Radio Tuvalu News reported government secretary Tine Leuelu as saying on July 1.

Two large trucks were parked on the airport’s 1,524-metre-long runway 03/21 during the dispute, resulting in flight disruptions.

Fiji Airways (FJ, Nadi) was forced to cancel its flight to the island nation from Suva on June 29 after the blockade began, leaving the passengers stranded at Suva's Nausori International Airport. A senior official at Fiji Airways told Radio Tuvalu News that it had been too risky to try and land.

The landowners had wanted to take their land back because the government had failed to sign a new lease deal the previous week, a spokesperson for the group, Semi Vine, explained.

According to ch-aviation capacities, Funafuti sees only four flights per week, three of which are operated by Fiji Airways with an ATR72-600, and 1x weekly frequency by Air Kiribati from Tarawa with a DHC-8-100.